HELP: XP SP2: USB Printer won't detect/install

Hi.

I have been battling with this problem for over a week now.

Without going into the details I have a simple question: what are the
reasons that a USB device would not be detected (in XP SP2) when it is
plugged in for the first time?

Given:

a.) All other USB devices work fine;
b.) There are no errors in Device Manager;
c.) A sfc /scannow gives no indication of any corrupt files;
d.) The printer works fine on an older machine (Win 98 ME);

One further bit of information:

There is a known problem with this printer (Canon MPC200) when
upgrading from Windows XP to XP SP2 - the printer is unable to
communicate with the computer (I wonder!) A patch exists but can only
be applied when the original drivers have already been installed. I
cannot do this (please just trust me).

A forced install fails as I am unable to choose the (virtual) USB
printer port as an option - when I try to install the USB drivers on a
different port (LPT1) I get the "The specified location does not
contain information about your hardware." dialog. The same is true if I
try installing the drivers using "Windows Update".

[If I right-click the actual .inf file (on the CD) and choose "install"
then there are no errors, but the drivers do not appear to install
either.]

I appear to have both USBMON.DLL and USBPRINT.SYS, though the latter
only appears as part of a .CAB file. Does this need to be extracted and
installed anywhere? Should I get a later version?

I am stuck for ideas. I am confident that if I can get the USB001 port
to show as an option then things can progress.

Any help is gratefully received.

Thanks,

Steve.